Come and meet Tony Horne at the Free Range Reading festival: Winner -
And win a signed copy of his book
Tony in the market square
For those of us living in the north east, Tony Horne In The Morning is an institution.
It is the longest running commercial radio breakfast show in England. Tony’s show started in 1993 in the West Country and came to Metro Radio the first time around in 1996 where one in two people in the area regularly tuned in for the wind ups and banter.
Billed much like Marmite, you either love him or hate him, and often controversial, Tony isn’t scared to put his views out there.
Meeting the man himself, at a photo shoot for his appearance at the New Writers’ North book day was a bit of a revelation. He was quiet. Yes that’s right, the big mouth in the morning, hardly said a word. To be fair to him, he was pulling a wheelbarrow full of books up and down the street in Durham market square and was visibly uncomfortable doing it!
Tony recently undertook a family trip to Australia, the result of which is Hornes Down Under part one. Reading the book has made me laugh out loud, cringe, wonder why Tony lets his wife do all the driving, and taken me back ten years to my own travels around this vast country.
Open and honest, it’s not a travel guide, rather a documentary on life for a family of four trapped in a camper van.
We had a quick chat with Tony at the New Writers’ North event.
Why should we buy your book?
You should buy the book because it is unique and specifically targeted. It is unique because it is one half of a double-header in that there is a part two in that my wife has a complimentary account of the same story, from her viewpoint. It is specifically targeted because it is the trip, and the book, for people who feel that they have that adventure of a lifetime in them but have only the duration of the British school holidays to play with. It’s affordable, and it’s manageable.
Plus, name me another travel book that is written as a family and as a guide. It’s got so much more fun, human, emotional content than indexing your way through one of these awful travel guides, and it’s totally recession-proof. What do I mean by that? Well, if you’ve had enough of all the doom and gloom, and nanny-state Britain, this is an adventure that you must join us on.
How has your family changed as a result of the trip?
Well, the answer to this question is partly on the last page. But broadly speaking, not much matters in the ‘real world’ after this adventure. There isn’t a night that goes by where we don’t pine for the van, but the van was real too – there’s a lot of ordinary, family stuff that happens when you travel for two months in a camper van. We’d forgotten how to do the ordinary stuff before Oz. We’ve had our wake up call. Most of what we do now is about planning and funding the next trip. It’s where you remember what life was meant to be about.
When does Nat’s version come out?
Good question. I’ll answer it by saying that I like to leave the whiff of this hanging in the air. There’s clearly a part two, but I don’t think it matters when it arrives. It certainly won’t be soon. Yet that creates expectation that could go on for any amount of time. It could be some time yet, in fact. But there is a part two, for sure. I know because we both made extensive notes every day in the van, and I’ve read some of it and it’s funny…the business with the tuna on the plane….oh never mind!
You can come along to the Free Range Reading (a book festival with a green tinge) event in Durham to meet Tony on Saturday 24 October where he will be sharing excerpts from the book.
daisygreenmagazine.co.uk readers have the opportunity to win a signed copy of Tony’s book and order more at a great, special offer price of £11.88 – cheaper than Amazon, and includes postage and package too! Email Tony at tonyhorne@horneymedia.com to buy your copy.
To win a signed copy of the book simply complete the contact detail box below before Sunday 8 November.
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